I agree with everything SdN said, including inspired terms like "horrid lysergic mix."

Everything is too commercial, everyone online is a shill, everyone is too cowed to call out bad publicity and cheap tricks, the affiliate threads are blatant advertising where you get shit on for not towing the party line. If you suggest that something like bespoke badspoke white flannel yoga pants are stupid, the refrain is, "Well, I'd like to see you try to sew some pants, wise guy!" The blogs traffic banner ads for products they don't even endorse and wouldn't wear themselves. Anyway, this is not specific to clothing. The Internet is a megamall and there are few, if any, sites where hobbyists dispense unvarnished opinions. 10 years ago, at the advent of SF, you could still go on the Internet and shoot the shit because the people you were talking to were just enthusiastic hobbyists, not socks for a brand.

If someone were to run an ad-free, tell-all blog, you would win the Pulitzer -- but this is seen as ungentlemanly because of the "don't ask, don't tell" stance to the insular world of private tailoring -- all while tailors badmouth clients in public and diss their competition on social media. We need more muckraking.

Here is the real punch line: if the tailor is someone you have actually heard of and has any presence online or on a blog or forum, odds are they are garbage or a ripoff.

Here is the bigger punch line: all of the stores, brands, and campaigns launched in the last 5 years by trust fund kids bored with finance and desirous of building a brand in true 21st century fashion have, in poaching "artisanal" makers and pumping more and more fancy men's clothing of every iteration into the market, created a fad, a bubble, where anyone with a bit of coin is too overdressed at all times, and it is reaching an apogee that is helping extinguish formal clothing by making it increasingly ridiculous and over-the-top, to the point that when it pops, consumers will gladly decamp to t-shirts and cargo pants out of sheer exasperation.

10 years ago, at the advent of SF, you could still go on the Internet and shoot the shit because the people you were talking to were just enthusiastic hobbyists, not socks for a brand.

We need more muckraking.

Agreed - Jeffery Diduch's suit dissections were some of the best blog content ever, and should be required reading for anyone posting here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprout2

Here is the real punch line: if the tailor is someone you have actually heard of and has any presence online or on a blog or forum, odds are they are garbage or a ripoff.

Mostly true; but as Sarto says every tailor produces inconsistent results. I have one mystery tailor (never mentioned online) and one who has been rubbished by some but produces acceptable results to my eye.

I have one mystery tailor (never mentioned online) and one who has been rubbished by some but produces acceptable results to my eye.

I am intrigued by this comment, as you seem to tacitly endorse a range of tailors on your blog. Another thing that I think could cause a problem is that the tailors both offer you discounts and know that they will gain the free publicity of exposure; they know they are making a suit for Permanent Style, so they will be inclined to try to produce their best work. This might not be representative of their actual, work though -- you are not really a mystery shopper. More than one Simon in the world!

Moving on, I've created this handy rubric:

- If your tailor shop has knowingly failed to deliver goods to clients for years and/or slandered them: do not pass go, do not collect $200

- If your tailor shop is owned by a hedge fund manager: do not pass go, do not collect $200

- If your tailor shop has more posts than you on Instagram: do not pass go, do not collect $200

- If your tailor shop has more clients from Kazakhstan than from its own neighborhood: do not pass go, do not collect $200

- If your tailor shop has a RTW diffusion line: do not pass go, do not collect $200

I am intrigued by this comment, as you seem to tacitly endorse a range of tailors on your blog. Another thing that I think could cause a problem is that the tailors both offer you discounts and know that they will gain the free publicity of exposure; they know they are making a suit for Permanent Style, so they will be inclined to try to produce their best work. This might not be representative of their actual, work though -- you are not really a mystery shopper.